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SuperAgers Live Longer
& Retain Better Memory Function
The Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at
Northwestern’s University Feinberg School of Medicine has been tracking a group
of older adults. They’ve found some of the group have remarkably better memory
skills than others. To the extent that their memory and recall is as good or
better than most people 20 or more years younger.
Northwestern has labeled those individuals “SuperAgers” and
has been busy trying to identify characteristics that might explain how they’ve
maintained their cognition.
Emily Rogalski, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences has led some of these research efforts. Here’s some of the
scientific findings: ·SuperAgers had greater thickness of the anterior cingulate gyrus. Evolutionary
theory postulates that the anterior cingulate was one of the later evolutionary
developments. The anterior cingulate is involved in decision-making, ethics,
emotion, and perhaps self-contro…

Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences
reduced heart failure risk in two weeks.
One of the great medical research vehicles is the Framingham
Heart Study. Originally created in 1948 to study cardiovascular disease,
researchers from Boston University assembled a group of volunteers who were
monitored in detail and examined every two years. Researchers have used data from the
Framingham Heart Study to create a cardiovascular risk evaluation tool called
the Framingham Risk Score (FRS). The FRS is used to assess someone’s chance of
developing cardiovascular disease in the next ten years. Risk groups are: low-less
than a 10 percent risk; intermediate- 10-20 percent risk; and high-over 20%. Recently, a research team at the All India Institute of Medical
Sciences in New Delhi analyzed the effectiveness of a yoga and meditation-based
lifestyle to determine if it would result in a lower FRS. Yadav Rashni, PhD and
the research team recruited 386 healthy participants for the s…

We should know by now that factors that aid the health of
that 3 lb. organ in our skull are many and varied. Still, sometimes we are
surprised at the findings. Light Level is a Big
Deal for Brain Performance
You’ve probably heard, and perhaps used the term “cabin
fever”. It usually refers to the need to get outside after a prolonged cold
spell. That cold spell could also be accompanied by cloudy, overcast days. Lily
Yan, MD, PhD and a team of researchers from Michigan State performed some
experiments to evaluate the impact of lower light levels on the brain.
Using test animals, they found that “When the animals were
housed in dim light during the day, mimicking the cloudy days or typical
indoor lighting, the animals had a ~30% reduction in the dendritic
spines, which make the connection between the brain cells, within the
hippocampus, a brain region critical for learning and memory.” (Emphasis mine).
Further comments from Dr. Yan: “Environmental lighting
conditions can impact brain fu…

Alcohol and Brain Health-Part I
A few weeks ago, we warned of the
risks of alcohol consumption, based on a study by the Department of Psychology
at Oxford University. Five hundred fifty people were tracked over thirty years,
with detailed records of their health maintained.Anya Topiwala, PhD and Charlotte L. Allen,
PhD led the project. From the study: “…even those drinking moderately had three
times the odds of right sided hippocampal atrophy”
Also from that study:
“Light-to-moderate drinking has been associated with a lower risk of dementia
and a reduced incidence of myocardial infarction and stoke. Brain imaging studies,
however, have thus far failed to provide a convincing neural correlate that
could underpin any protective benefit.” Link to study here.
Further, the definition they used
to determine a moderate amount were different than the old U.S. four once glass
of wine, 1.5-ounce cocktail or ten-ounce beer. In all cases they were smaller.
A half-pint of beer as an example, whic…

Use These Two New
Research Findings to Build Your Bigger Better Brain in 2018
Best, the benefits come from easy- to- do things.

Walking Has Newly-Discovered
Brain Benefits
If you’ve been following our posts, you certainly know that exercise
is your top brain-building activity for 2018. Here’s the latest, and rather interesting,
research. A team of researchers from schools of medicine at New Mexico
University, Colorado University and the University of Copenhagen studied
healthy young adults performing different activities. They found that walking and running have a
unique effect: they create pressure waves beginning in the feet caused by
landing on the ground. Those pressure waves propel blood into the brain. That
contrasts to other exercises like cycling where there isn’t either the lighter
foot pressure of walking or the heavier foot pressure of running. Link to the
research here.
That 10,000 steps thing seems to have some scientific support (oh and remember
that we reported research…

Recently there have been medical research reports indicating
that all the warnings about consuming too much salt were exaggerated. Perhaps
you remember when we were told that consuming eggs would clog our arteries with
cholesterol, and anyone eating butter had a death wish. Now, eggs are an ideal
source of lean protein and butter not only isn’t bad, it is superior to
margarine.
In that vein, having seen the newer reports, I was largely
ignoring salt warnings (particularly since I can eat my weight in restaurant
chips and salsa). Then this report popped-up.

Quoting from the study: “…excess dietary salt suppresses
resting cerebral blood flow and endothelial function, leading to cognitive
decline.” Cognitive decline, of course,
isn’t good. It causes little brains. Research Details
Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College fed mice a
high salt diet. Admittedly, it was a very high salt diet. The result was
reduced blood flow to the hippocampus and cortex. Our old friend the hippocamp…

We’ve found some simply delicious research reports. Chocolate Lovers-
Take Heart!
Denmark has created a large health
study, with over 55,000 participants who have been tracked for over 13 years. Originally
designed to identify cancer risk factors, it captured sufficiently rich and
detailed information that it can be used to assess heart health benefits as
well.
Research teams from Beth Israel
Deaconess Hospital in Boston, and Aalborg University Hospital in Aalborg
Denmark teamed up. Kim Overvad, PhD in Epidemiology at Aalborg University
Hospital took the lead; Murray A. Mittleman, MD of Beth Israel and Elizabeth
Mostofsky, ScD and a post-doc at Beth Israel also worked on it. The researchers
were trying to determine if consumption of chocolate reduced the risk of atrial
fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is commonly called “afib” here in the U.S.
It’s likely you’ve seen advertisements for medications to treat it. Afib is
associated with a higher risk of stroke, dementia, heart failure, …

About Me

Grew up in Memphis, worked my way through the local university, married my high school sweetheart - still married 42 years later. Played in a rock band, couldn't make a living, became a CPA. Raised two great sons. Moved all over the U.S. with different finance and management jobs. Now working with multiple start-ups as an investor and advisor.